


The Duan Family

by sharlatan



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Accidental Pregnancy, F/M, Pregnancy, There are swears, tender moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 00:19:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10477821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharlatan/pseuds/sharlatan
Summary: A moment of softness when the whole world shifts.Lardo told Shitty. Shitty told Jack. Jack told Bitty and turns around to remind Lardo that she doesn't have to do this alone.





	

 

 

She was five weeks in and nothing was showing, but she’d been puking almost everyday and had refused Bitty’s pumpkin pie yesterday. Lardo hadn't told her mom yet, and Shitty refuses to tell anything to his father, but she knows that his mother knew. Jack had called her immediately after Shitty freaked and told him a week ago, before freaking out himself and telling Bitty, who had broken into their apartment in order to make sure she was okay.

“I’m okay, people should stop asking me if I was okay, I’m pregnant, not sick.” She complained to Jack, who only answered by giving a silent nod. 

“Shitty’s freaking out,” Jack said instead. 

“I know.” She groaned and put her face in her hands. A moment of silence passed between the two before she lifted her head again. “I don’t want to chain him down like this or jerk him around emotionally. I know he wants me to keep it.” 

“He wants whatever you want,” Jack said.

She knew that, but she could also read Shitty well enough to know that he was ecstatic and wanted nothing more than to have her keep it. And the scary thing was, she could also feel herself being as excited as he is. 

“How are the two of us even remotely qualified to be parents? He’s just starting his job, and I have my job.” And Lardo wasn’t sure that her bosses would let her take a maternity leave. And even more terrifyingly, she just realized that she wasn't on the life track that she had envisioned for herself with this job. Sports management paid a lot, and Lardo knew she was on the fast track to a good promotion, but now this forced her to look at her life, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend it all on picking up after athletes. But she wasn’t sure if she could provide proper care if she didn’t have this high paying position. And it was a downward spiraling mess of disaster. 

It was as if Jack could read her mind, or at least the mood in her mind, because he puts a hand on her shoulder and leaned back on the sofa that they were sitting at. 

“Maybe you’re thinking too much,” he said. “Just concentrate on whether or not you want to keep it, and trust in your friends to help you no matter which choice it is. We’re a team.” 

She sniffed, and suddenly Jack found himself with an armful of Lardo. She let her tears and snot stain his sweater, and he held her through her trembling. When the two of them extricated themselves from their situation, Jack extended a fist, and Lardo bumped it.

“Got your back,” they said together.

Bitty waltzed into the living room with an trayful of various flavors of mini pie. 

“Alright, did you two have your tender bro moment yet? Because Lardo has to try a bite of every one of these and tell me which one fits her appetite.” 

“I can’t believe I can’t eat pumpkin pie anymore,” she complained. “Why does my baby hate me?”

She ignored the conspicuous look that Bitty gave Jack at her mention of “her baby” and focused on trying out each of the pies. 

Bitty drove her back to Boston later, armed with a cooler full of food that that she can stomach and two pairs of crocs that he stole from Jack. ("Please take them, I can't stand him wearing these anymore.") 

“Is there anything else you need?” He asked with eyes filled with worry. "I can stay the night if you need, I don't have work tomorrow."

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “Thank you so much for today, I needed it.”

“Anything for you, Lardo,” he hovered over her, and insisted on carrying the entire cooler for her into her building. “When is Shitty coming back?” 

“He’s a rookie at his office, so he’s gotta stay late pretty much every night.” She opened the door and turned on the light. The place looked lonely and dark without Shitty. 

Bitty decided to stay with her until Shitty comes home, and the two of them unpacked the various forms of pasta and casserole that he packed in the cooler along with different kinds of pastries. Lardo knew that Bitty was bursting with questions he refrained from asking, while he's only focusing on how to make her life more comfortable and stuffing her fridge with more food. He left just as Shitty opened the door. A customary hug was all Shitty got, before Bitty walked back down to his car, muttering about parking. 

“Bits never makes dinner food at people’s houses, what got into him?” Shitty said as he gulped down a huge mouthful of lasagna. 

“It’s just his way of showing how much he cares,” Lardo said. Shitty was still swallowing down food like his life depended on it, and it was incredibly endearing. 

They shared the task of washing dishes, and afterwards Lardo waited in bed while Shitty showered. He always sang in the shower. Today it was “Uptown Girl” that Shitty belted with gusto. 

“ _She’s been living in her uptown world,_

_I bet she’s never had a backstreet boy,_

_I bet her momma never told her why~_ ”

She wondered if she was the downtown girl to Shitty’s uptown boy. Lardo knew the way that his grandparents looked at her; she wasn’t from the kind of family that they were used to and she was definitely not the kind of girl they expected their grandson to be with. She also knew enough about Shitty’s worth and her own worth, and if she had to walk away from him now she would be torn apart. Eyes closed, Lardo imagined a baby nestled in her arms, grinning up at her disarmingly. And next to her, there was Shitty. 

“Hey Shits,” she called out when Shitty came back in their room. 

“Yeah?” He said, checking his mustache in their mirror. 

“When are you going to make an honest woman out of me?” 

Shitty whipped around so fast she thought there might’ve been an afterimage left behind. He clambered onto the bed and onto her, bracketing her before sinking down so that he was able to look up at her face. 

 “You mean it? Lardo, do you- are you sure?” He was getting a little choked up, and she saw how watery his eyes were becoming. 

“Hey, you’re the one who knocked me up,” Lardo said, smiling. “I think you should take some responsibility.”

He hugged her, and for the second time that day Lardo was in a sobbing embrace. 

“I don’t think I could’ve chosen to keep it this easily if it weren’t for you,” she said, and before Shitty could argue about “women’s choice”, she continued, “Because you made it so that there were less things I had to worry about. You make me feel safe, Shits, safe enough to say fuck everything else, I want this with you. I trust you and I love you, and I want to spend my whole life with you.”

"Fuck, yes. I wanted to ask you the moment you told me, but I was afraid that it would put more pressure on you. I didn’t want to make it seem like of course we have to keep the baby if we’re married, because fuck traditional roles. But fuck, yes I want to marry you, you fucking beautiful amazing woman who is carrying a real life human being and-” he breaks off in another sob as Lardo patted his back.

“Let’s take your name,” he said, later that night as the two of them spoon. “I’m kind of tired of being a Knight, and this way our baby can be in the front of any alphabetized line.” 

“Mmm,” she agreed, almost asleep. “Sounds nice.” 

“I love you,” He whispered again. 

“Got your back,” she mumbled back, before her breathing evened out. 

Shitty reverently kissed her head. “We’re gonna be the Duans. The Duan family. I love you two so much.” 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Bitty: I changed all my jobs to part time, because I have so much commitments now. With the volunteering, and the job, and friends. This is just easier on me.
> 
> Lardo: Let me guess, you're visiting me every other day?
> 
> Bitty: Only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! And maybe on the weekends, and LARDO YOU'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!


End file.
